"Prototyping is the iterative development of artifacts – digital, physical, or experiential – intended to elicit qualitative or quantitative feedback." (Geehr, 2008)
The act of prototyping implies "building", testing, and iterating and is, itself, both a flaring and a narrowing process. The flaring represents the proliferation of low-resolution prototypes developed as different aspects of the prototype are evaluated and the narrowing represents the refinement of the lower resolution models into increasingly complex and resolved models.
WHY do we teach it?
After the ideation phase, you have a mountain of ideas, some of which you'd like to pursue. Prototyping allows you to fully explore all of those concepts you want to evaluate. You prototype because you need to explore your options -- to try things and fail, further informing your design process. Prototyping is a way to do your due diligence on the concepts that came out of ideation. Get your hands dirty! Click that mouse! Bias toward action! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand pictures.
WHAT is it?
The act of prototyping implies "building", testing, and iterating and is, itself, both a flaring and a narrowing process. The flaring represents the proliferation of low-resolution prototypes developed as different aspects of the prototype are evaluated and the narrowing represents the refinement of the lower resolution models into increasingly complex and resolved models.
WHY do we teach it?
After the ideation phase, you have a mountain of ideas, some of which you'd like to pursue. Prototyping allows you to fully explore all of those concepts you want to evaluate. You prototype because you need to explore your options -- to try things and fail, further informing your design process. Prototyping is a way to do your due diligence on the concepts that came out of ideation. Get your hands dirty! Click that mouse! Bias toward action! If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand pictures.